making your kids suicide bombers

15 - 05/18 /18:54

Dita & Puji Kuswanti and their four children went to church last Sunday in Surabaya, Indonesia. Actually, they went to three churches. But they didn’t go to worship. The Jakarta Post reports they went as suicide bombers.

At 6:30am teenage sons Yusuf and Alif, age 18 and 16, rode their motorcycle into the Santa Maria Catholic church, detonating their suicide bomb as early mass concluded. Five people in the church were killed.

A little before 7:45am a white SUV dropped off a mother and her elementary-age girls at the GKI Diponegoro church. Clad in a black niqab and carrying two bags, Puji Kuswanti was stopped at the entrance by a security official. Hugging the guard she detonated her bomb. Moments after witnessing this daughters Fadila and Pamela, age 12 and nine, detonated their own suicide devices. The security officer was seriously injured—the only casualty.

At 7:53am Dita, the father, drove his white SUV loaded with multiple bombs into the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal church parking area as people were departing after early service while others arriving for the second service. Two church-attenders were killed in his suicide attack, many were injured—some seriously.

Next day multiple riders on two motorcycles, including at least one woman, conducted a suicide attack on a police station that injured ten people. A severely injured eight-year-old girl was found among the carnage. Police believe she’s the only survivor of the suicide family.

ISIS took credit for these family bombings. Indonesia’s President called the attacks, “the act of cowards and barbaric.” The BBC reports children have been used as suicide bombers before, but not by their own parents. Normally children are taken from their families, indoctrinated or drugged, then manipulated into attacks. What happened in Indonesia has seldom been seen before.

Dito Kuswanti’s father told CNN, “I love my grandchildren very much. They died because of their father’s ideology. I want to apologize to Surabaya residents who have become victims due to my son’s actions. I apologize from deep within my heart, especially to those who died because of him.” Indonesians held a candle-light vigil for the victims and their relatives.

What kind of belief-system teaches parents to make suicide bombers of their own children?

In the ancient world child sacrifice was not unheard of. The Romans condemned Carthage for sacrificing children, claiming they used loud bands to cover the screams of children from their parents. Old Testament prophets proclaimed child-sacrifice abominable.

Dressing one’s own elementary age daughter in a suicide vest reflects deep hate. Coaching teenage sons to ride their motorcycle with a suicide bomb indicates a loathing not only of your enemy but of life itself. To view killing and death not as deeply regreted acts of desperation, but as a solution—that is the very definition of evil.